Girl Talk
by moonjat54
Summary: Additional scene to The Ringer after Beth leaves Mick's. She goes to someone else to learn more about Coraline. OC of my own creation.


This is the first fan fiction I have written for anyone's eyes but my own. I'm following my son's advice to"go for it" and share.

I do not own Moonlight or any of the characters. I take credit only for the character that I have created. I am in awe of the writers who make their living doing this. They inspired me to try and follow along.

This Moonlight scene takes place after Beth leaves Mick's apartment at the end of " The Ringer". I am introducing a vampire of my own who Beth can turn to for some answers. This was written before the episode "Sleeping Beauty " was aired.

I welcome reviews, but please go easy on the newbie. Thanks.

Girl Talk

Beth left the apartment with her head reeling and emotions churning. There was so much to process. Mick had confessed to murdering his wife. He described their love as an infection. Well it was obvious that he wasn't cured yet. He couldn't answer when she asked if he was disappointed it wasn't Coraline, but his eyes said a lot.

Reaching her car, Beth hesitated. She couldn't go to Josh; he could never understand what she had just gone through. He wouldn't want to hear anything about Mick St John. There was only one being she could talk to about her confused feelings, who knew Mick well enough to help her. She headed her car across town, to the club Dusk To Dawn. There she knew Kira Starling waited. The 132 year old vampire knew Mick better than anyone other than Josef.

Beth had met Kira a few weeks back when Mick and Kira had to confront a vampire hunter from their past. Beth had learned a lot in a short time. Kira had been turned in 1902; she owned a number of night clubs that catered to both human and vampire. It took one interview with Kira to learn that during Mick's stormy relationship with Coraline, that he had turned to Kira. In spite of that, Beth found she liked Kira tremendously. Deep down Beth felt that Kira had never lost all her feelings for her sire, Josef. And even more surprising, in rare glimpses, she saw Josef express real feelings for Kira. All his superior aloofness vanished when he thought no one else could see him looking at her.

Beth was lucky to find a parking spot near the entrance to the club and went in. It was a busy night and she wove her way through the crowd heading to the bar. The blues trio who had been playing there for a month still impressed the crowd. As she moved through the press of people, she bumped into a tall, blonde man with drop dead gorgeous brown eyes.

" Thomas," she exclaimed in surprise and smiled up at him.

Thomas was Eli Wolfe's son. The man was in his early thirties and he and his father had been managing Kira's club for some time. They were her link to the human world.

" Looking for Kira?" Thomas asked. He took a closer look at Beth . "Are you okay Beth?"

"I'm okay. But I do need to speak to Kira. Is she here?"

"I believe so, come, I'll check," Thomas answered and taking her elbow he guided her toward the bar. Beth waited while he called back to Kira's private office.

Moments later Kira appeared from the back area. She was a stunning dark red head with almond shaped green eyes. She wore her hair in a short bob ending around her ears. A black, one shouldered dress showed off a slim figure with just the right curves. She smiled warmly at Beth.

"Beth, are you okay?" she asked in a husky voice.

"I need to talk to you Kira," Beth said urgently.

"Of course," Kira said gently. "My office." She guided her to the back hallway that led to Kira's sumptuous office. Once inside she led Beth to the couch and very gently pushed her down to sit. She pulled a chair over to face Beth across the coffee table. She smiled at her in concern.

"Well Beth," she prompted.

"Have you talked to Josef this past week?" Beth asked.

"Of course. I know that this "Morgan" is so like Coraline it is eerie. I haven't seen her, but Josef said it was disturbing."

Beth looked at Kira with a hot intensity. "Mick said he murdered his wife!"

"Coraline,yes," Kira nodded calmly.

"What happened?"

The beautiful vampire sat back and studied Beth.

"Do you remember our ground rules?" Kira asked pointedly.

Beth nodded.

"Good. Any gossip about Mick's personal life I will not take part in. I owe too much to Mick to talk behind his back," Kira warned. "I want to help you Beth, but I will not violate his trust in me."

"Help me understand Coraline and why Morgan drove him so crazy. I've worked with Morgan lately, I don't understand."

"I can speak of Coraline," Kira said. "She was the most manipulative vampire I've ever met. She surpassed my darling Josef and was even worse than Lola."

"Lola," Beth echoed. "I met her."

"So Mick and Josef said," Kira said with some venom in her voice. "There's one I will not miss. I really should thank Mick properly for eliminating her."

Beth looked at her sharply.

"Lola was Josef's Coraline. " Kira explained. "She'd show up and he could see no other. Before this last appearance, she came around not long after Josef turned me. He couldn't see anyone but her during the brief time she was in San Francisco with us. I do not regret her passing."

Beth smiled. Every time she talked to Kira, she felt closer to her than before. Beth liked that Kira did not mind Lola dying. The vampire had made her very uncomfortable at their meeting in Club Valis.

"What was Coraline like?" Beth pressed.

"Coraline did not like me. I was a threat to her and Mick. She was the main reason that Mick and I did not make things work. Coraline kept stepping back in when he began to relax and be happy," Kira related. "Her whole attitude was self-centered. What Coraline wanted, Coraline intended to have."

Kira stopped and looked at Beth closely.

"What really brought you here tonight?"

Beth related the conversation she had with Mick after his incident in the cemetery with Morgan. She ended with Mick not giving an answer to her question about if Mick was disappointed it wasn't Coraline.

With a sympathetic smile, Kira asked Beth, "What did you want him to say?"

"Truthfully, I wanted him glad Morgan isn't Coraline," Beth admitted softly.

"All right, I will tell you this about Coraline and Mick," Kira said. "For Mick this was an all consuming love that betrayed him. He cannot see straight about her and think of how guilty he must feel to have killed her. Our Mick is a complicated man and there isn't just one reason he may have been glad to think Coraline was still alive."

Beth sat back in the soft leather seat. She hadn't thought of that. She felt a little guilty for judging Mick so quickly. Thinking back, Beth could see how hard it had been for him to talk to her.

Watching her Kira smiled slightly. Beth was quick to pick up on things. It didn't take her long to see more than one side of the story.

"Beth, what do you want? How do you feel about Mick? And what about Josh?"

"You ask tough questions," Beth blushed. "I don't know. I believe I love Josh. He's sweet, kind and funny. He cooks for me and lets me do my job at weird hours without complaining. But with Mick-uh- there's something I can't find words for. There's a connection I just can't explain, but it's there. I'm drawn to him. There's this rush through me when I'm with him…" She stopped, blushing deeper.

Kira nodded and got up. She moved to sit on the coffee table and took Beth's hands in hers.

"Beth, I have a few years on you," she said softly. Beth smiled at that and stifled a giggle. "Okay, I've got about a hundred on you," Kira sighed. "But I have some experience. You need to trust your heart. That's the only way."

"But I don't know how Mick feels and tonight didn't help"

Kira got up and went back to the small bar. She poured a glass of red wine for Beth and a glass of blood for herself. She returned, handed the wine to Beth and settled back in her chair.

"Vampire/human relations often don't work. Even with the greatest love, it becomes a question of turning or watching your love die. It's hard."

"You told me you loved Josef at the time he turned you. Did you know he was a vampire?" Beth asked, taking a sip of wine.

"I suspected something. I thought I loved him. I didn't exactly agree to be turned, but I was so miserable in my human existence I didn't mind once it happened." Kira told her quietly. " Josef made the difference. He was very kind."

"I'm trying to picture a kind, gentle Josef." Beth grinned. "I don't get the impression he wants to be seen that way."

Kira smiled in return. "Josef loves to be enigmatic. He's had centuries of practice. Very few get to know the real Josef. He's had almost four hundred years to have to change with changing times. You tend to build up shields against the outside world."

"I hadn't thought about that," Beth admitted.

"Mick is young. There are still people from his old life alive. It makes him long to return to mortality." Kira explained. "He still faces adjusting his identity to protect himself from the curious."

Beth sat back and mulled over that thought.

"Have there been successful vampire couples through the ages?" she asked.

Kira paused.

"I've never met any. I will not say it's impossible. We have so much time that any relationship ebbs and flows. It's not easy to maintain an intense passion for centuries."

"Did Josef resent your time with Mick?" Beth couldn't stop herself from asking.

She could have sworn that Kira blushed. Kira took a drink and thought for a moment.

"Now you ask tough questions. I think that Josef has never felt as I did when he sired me. He wanted me, he cares, and we are close. But I never was his great love. When Coraline turned Mick, Josef and I had not been a couple for over ten years. He was more my business mentor," Kira explained.

"I think there's something more there," Beth said with conviction. Kira shook her head.

"Not long ago he suggested that I out wait you for Mick," Kira chuckled. "He told me I have time on my side."

Beth looked surprised.

"Well he's right, you do."

"I don't think I'm a priority to Mick anymore," Kira said firmly. "And I'm okay with that. But I also don't believe in coincidences. If Morgan is this close a copy of Coraline, I would keep an eye on her. Josef firmly believes there's no cure for vampirism, but I would never underestimate Coraline's ability to manipulate things. She may have found a way to mask what she is. As a woman, I don't trust her."

Beth digested that information. The tightness in her stomach returned. She trusted Kira's instincts.

"Perhaps you should meet Morgan."

"Perhaps I should," Kira agreed. "If she is Coraline, she would not be happy to see me again."

"Thank you for talking to me Kira," Beth said finishing her wine. "I couldn't just go home. I'm glad you're here."

"You're the age I was when I was turned," Kira replied. "It is nice to be reminded what it was like to be so young. It's good to have "girl talk" again."

They got to their feet and on impulse Beth went to Kira and quickly hugged her.

"Thanks," she murmured and stepped away.

There was surprise in Kira's eyes that turned to glistening happiness. She had forgotten what it was like to have a woman friend.

"No Beth, thank you."

I hope this made sense. Having seen more episodes since writing this I know some things may not mesh with the show. I want to believe that somewhere in time Josef must have sired someone. If he didn't do it out of love, but from the desire to attain something perhaps it worked. Tell me what you think. I'm not sure if my writing ability stacks up to so many of you


End file.
